Bifacial solar cells with overlaid back grid surface

ABSTRACT

A simplified manufacturing process and the resultant bifacial solar cell (BSC) are provided, the simplified manufacturing process reducing manufacturing costs. The BSC includes an active region located on the front surface of the substrate, formed for example by a phosphorous diffusion step. After removing the PSG, assuming phosphorous diffusion, and isolating the front junction, dielectric layers are deposited on the front and back surfaces. Contact grids are formed, for example by screen printing. Prior to depositing the back surface dielectric, a metal grid may be applied to the back surface, the back surface contact grid registered to, and alloyed to, the metal grid during contact firing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityto U.S. patent application Ser. No. No. 12/456,378, filed Jun. 15, 2009,which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61,215,199, filed May 1, 2009, the benefit of priority of eachof which is claimed hereby, and each of which are incorporated byreference herein its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to solar cells and, inparticular, to an improved structure and manufacturing process for abifacial solar cell.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Bifacial solar cells (BSC) may use any of a variety of different designsto achieve higher efficiencies than those typically obtained by aconventional, monofacial solar cell. One such design is shown in U.S.Pat. No. 5,665,175 which discloses a BSC configuration with first andsecond active regions formed on the front and back surfaces of the BSC,respectively, the two regions separated by a distance λ. The distance λallows a leakage current to flow between the first and second activeregions, thus allowing a solar cell panel utilizing such bifacial cellsto continue to operate even if one or more individual solar cells becomeshaded or defective.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,495,167 discloses an n⁺pp⁺ structure and a method ofproducing the same. In the disclosed structure, the p⁺ layer, formed byboron diffusion, exhibits a lifetime close to that of the initial levelof the substrate. In order to achieve this lifetime, the '167 patentteaches that after phosphorous gettering, the cell must be annealed at atemperature of 600° C. or less for one hour or more. In order to retainthe lifetime recovered by the phosphorous and low-temperature borngettering steps, the cell then undergoes a final heat treatment step inwhich the cell is fired at a temperature of around 700° C. or less forone minute or less.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0056312 discloses analternative technique for achieving two or more p-n junctions in asingle solar cell, the disclosed technique using transparent substrates(e.g., glass or quartz substrates). In one disclosed embodiment, the BSCincludes two thin-film polycrystalline or amorphous cells formed onopposing sides of a transparent substrate. Due to the design of thecell, the high temperature deposition of the absorber layers can becompleted before the low temperature deposition of the window layers,thus avoiding degradation or destruction of the p-n junctions.

Although there are a variety of BSC designs and techniques forfabricating the same, these designs and techniques tend to be relativelycomplex, and thus expensive. Accordingly, what is needed is a solar celldesign that achieves the benefits associated with bifacial solar cellswhile retaining the manufacturing simplicity of a monofacial solar cell.The present invention provides such a design.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a simplified manufacturing process andthe resultant bifacial solar cell (BSC), the simplified manufacturingprocess reducing manufacturing costs. In at least one embodiment of theinvention, the manufacturing method is comprised of the steps ofsimultaneously diffusing phosphorous onto the front surface of a siliconsubstrate to form an n⁺ layer and a front surface junction and onto theback surface of the silicon substrate to form an n⁺ layer and a backsurface junction, removing the phosphor-silicate glass formed during thediffusion step (e.g., by etching with HF), depositing passivation and ARdielectric layers on the front and back surfaces, applying front andback surface contact grids, and firing the front and back surfacecontact grids. The front and back surface contact grid firing steps maybe performed simultaneously. Alternately, the back surface contact gridapplying and firing steps may be performed prior to, or after, the frontsurface contact grid applying and firing steps. The method may furtherinclude the step of firing the back surface contact grid through theback junction, leaving a floating junction. The method may furtherinclude the step of removing the back surface junction and isolating thefront surface junction, this step performed prior to depositing the backsurface dielectric. A back surface metal grid may be applied, forexample by screen printing or deposition using a shadow mask, afterremoving the back surface junction and prior to depositing thedielectric layer on the back surface.

In at least one embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing method iscomprised of the steps of depositing a dielectric layer on the backsurface of a silicon substrate, diffusing phosphorous onto the frontsurface of the substrate to form an n⁺ layer and a front surfacejunction, removing the phosphor-silicate glass formed during thediffusion step (e.g., by etching with HF), isolating the front surfacejunction using a laser scriber, depositing a front surface passivationand AR dielectric layer, applying front and back surface contact grids,firing the front and back surface contact grids, and isolating the frontsurface junction, for example using a laser scriber. The front and backsurface contact grid firing steps may be performed simultaneously.Alternately, the back surface contact grid applying and firing steps maybe performed prior to, or after, the front surface contact grid applyingand firing steps.

In at least one embodiment of the invention, a bifacial solar cell (BSC)is provided that is comprised of a silicon substrate with a frontsurface active region of a first conductivity type, dielectric layersdeposited on the front surface active region and on the back surface ofthe silicon substrate, a front surface contact grid applied to the frontsurface dielectric, and a back surface contact grid applied to the backsurface dielectric, where the front surface contact grid alloys throughthe front surface dielectric to the active region during firing, andwhere the back surface contact grid alloys through the back surfacedielectric to the back surface of the silicon substrate during firing.The silicon substrate may be comprised of p-type silicon, the activeregion may be comprised of n⁺ material resulting from a phosphorousdiffusion step, and the dielectric layers may be comprised of siliconnitride, silicon oxide and/or silicon oxynitride. The BSC may furthercomprise a floating back surface junction of the first conductivitytype. The BSC may further comprise a metal grid pattern depositeddirectly on the back surface of the silicon substrate, where the backsurface screen printed contact grid fires through the back surfacedielectric and makes electrical contact with the metal grid patternduring firing. The BSC may further comprise a groove on the frontsurface of the silicon substrate, the groove isolating the front surfacejunction.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a BSC in accordance withthe invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the process flow for the BSC of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternate process flow for the BSC of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternate embodiment of a BSC in accordance withthe invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the process flow for the BSC of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternate process flow for the BSC of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternate embodiment of a BSC in accordance withthe invention; and

FIG. 8 illustrates the process flow for the BSC of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a preferred bifacial solarcell (BSC) structure fabricated in accordance with the proceduredescribed in FIG. 2. Silicon substrate 101 may be of either p- orn-type. In the illustrated device and process of FIGS. 1 and 2, a p-typesubstrate is used.

Initially, substrate 101 is prepared using any of a variety ofwell-known substrate preparatory processes (step 201). In general,during step 201 saw and handling induced damage is removed via anetching process, for example using a nitric and hydrofluoric (HF) acidmixture. After substrate preparation, phosphorous is diffused onto thefront surface of substrate 101, creating n⁺ layer 103 and a p-n junctionat the interface of substrate 101 and n⁺ layer 103. During this step,phosphorous is also diffused onto the back surface of substrate 101,creating n⁺ layer 104 and a floating junction. Preferably n⁺ layer 103is formed using phosphoryl chloride (POCl₃) with a diffusion temperaturein the range of 825° C. to 890° C., preferably at a temperature ofapproximately 850° C., for 10 to 20 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere(step 203). The phosphor-silicate glass (PSG) formed during diffusionstep 203 is then etched away, preferably using an HF etch at or nearroom temperature for 1 to 5 minutes (step 205). In the preferredembodiment, the front and back surface junctions have a depth of 0.3 to0.6 microns and a surface doping concentration of about 8×10²¹/cm³.

In step 207, a front surface passivation and anti-reflection (AR)dielectric layer 105 is deposited as well as a back surface passivationand AR dielectric layer 107, each layer preferably being approximately76 nanometers thick. In the exemplary embodiment, layers 105 and 107 arecomprised of silicon nitride with an index of refraction of 2.07. In analternate embodiment, layers 105 and 107 are comprised of siliconoxynitride. In another alternate embodiment, layers 105 and 107 arecomprised of a stack of two layers of different composition, for example10 nanometers of silicon dioxide and 70 nanometers of silicon nitride.Layers 105 and 107 are preferably deposited at a temperature of 300° C.to 400° C.

After deposition of the dielectric layers, contact grids are applied tothe front and back surfaces of BSC 100 (step 209), for example using ascreen printing process. In the exemplary embodiment, front contact grid109 is comprised of silver while back contact grid 111 is comprised ofaluminum. In the preferred embodiment, both the front and back contactgrids are aligned and use the same contact size and spacing, withelectrodes being approximately 100 microns wide, 15 microns thick andspaced approximately 2.5 millimeters apart. In at least one alternateembodiment, the back contact grid uses a finer spacing in order tolessen resistance losses from lateral current flow in the substrate.Lastly, a contact firing step 211 is performed, preferably at a peaktemperature of 750° C. for 3 seconds in air. As a result of thisprocess, contacts 109 alloy through passivation and AR dielectriccoating 105 to n⁺ layer 103. Contacts 111 alloy through passivation andAR dielectric coating 107 and back diffused layer 104 to form contact tosubstrate 101. As aluminum is a p-type dopant, a diode forms betweenback diffused layer 104 and contact 111 so that current does not flowfrom the back diffused layer into the contact and the back diffusion isfloating. This isolates the back surface from the bulk 101 since thereis zero current into a floating junction.

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternate process for fabricating cell 100. Asillustrated, in this process the front surface and back surface contactgrids are applied and fired separately, thereby allowing differentfiring conditions to be used for each grid. Preferably contact grid 111is applied (step 301) and fired (step 303) first, followed by theapplication of contact grid 109 (step 305) and firing of the frontcontact grid (step 307).

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate an alternate embodiment in which the floatingjunction on the back surface of the substrate is removed. In structure400, after formation of the front junction and PSG etching, the backsurface of substrate 101 is etched (step 501), thereby removing the backsurface junction and providing isolation for the front junction. In apreferred embodiment, step 501 uses an isotropic wet silicon etch suchas a mixture of nitric acid and HF acid. After removal of the backsurface floating junction, the process continues as previously describedrelative to either FIGS. 2 and 3. Preferably in this embodiment the backsurface contact grid is comprised of an aluminum-silver mixture.

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternate process for fabricating cell 400. Inthis process, after preparation of substrate 101 (step 201), dielectriclayer 107 is applied to the back surface of substrate 101 (step 601). Aspreviously described, preferably dielectric layer 107 is comprised ofsilicon nitride or silicon oxynitride. Applying dielectric layer 107prior to diffusing the front surface n⁺ layer 103 (step 203) preventsthe formation of a back surface junction. After the front surfacediffusion (step 203) and the PSG etch (step 205), the front surfacepassivation and AR dielectric layer 105 is deposited (step 603),followed by application (step 209) and firing (step 211) of the contactgrids. Lastly, the front junction is isolated (step 605), for exampleusing a laser scriber to form a groove on the front cell surface aroundthe periphery of the cell. This embodiment can also separate the screenprinting and firing of the front and back surface contact grids asdescribed relative to FIG. 3.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate a variation of BFC 400. As shown in the BFCcross-sectional view of BFC 700, a metal grid 701 is applied directlyonto the back surface of cell 101 (step 801), thereby reducing contactresistance. Step 801 is preferably performed after the back surface ofsubstrate 101 has been etched to remove the back surface junction andisolate the front junction (step 501). Step 801 is performed usingeither a deposition process with a shadow mask, or using a screenprinting process. Preferably, metal grid 701 is comprised of aluminum.After depositing dielectric layers 105 and 107 (step 207), contact grids109 and 111 are applied and fired, either together as shown in FIG. 6and described relative to FIG. 2, or separately as described relative toFIG. 3. Regardless of whether the contact formation process follows thatshown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, it will be understood that back surfacecontact grid 111 is registered to metal grid 501. During the firingstep, contact grid 111 alloys to metal grid 501.

As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the presentinvention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe spirit or essential characteristics thereof Accordingly, thedisclosures and descriptions herein are intended to be illustrative, butnot limiting, of the scope of the invention.

1. A bifacial solar cell, comprising: a silicon substrate with a frontsurface and a back surface; an active region of a first conductivitytype located on at least a portion of said front surface of said siliconsubstrate; a first dielectric layer deposited on said active region; asecond dielectric layer deposited on said back surface of said siliconsubstrate; a first contact grid applied to said first dielectric layer,said first contact grid comprised of a first metal, wherein after afiring step said first contact grid is alloyed through said firstdielectric layer to said active region; and a second contact gridapplied to said second dielectric layer, said second contact gridcomprised of a second metal, wherein after said firing step said secondcontact grid is alloyed through said second dielectric layer to saidback surface of said silicon substrate.
 2. The bifacial solar cell ofclaim 1, further comprising a floating junction of said firstconductivity type located on at least a portion of said back surface ofsaid silicon substrate.
 3. The bifacial solar cell of claim 1, whereinsaid silicon substrate is comprised of a p-type silicon, said activeregion is comprised of n⁺ material resulting from a phosphorousdiffusion step, and said first and second dielectric layers are selectedfrom the group consisting of silicon nitride, silicon oxide and siliconoxynitride.
 4. The bifacial solar cell of claim 1, further comprising agrid pattern of a third metal deposited directly on said back surface ofsaid silicon substrate and interposed between said back surface of saidsilicon substrate and said second dielectric layer, wherein said secondscreen printed contact grid is registered to said grid pattern, andwherein after said firing step said second screen printed contact gridis alloyed through said second dielectric layer to said grid pattern ofsaid third metal.
 5. The bifacial solar cell of claim 1, furthercomprising a groove on said front surface of said silicon substrate,said groove isolating a front junction formed by said active region andsaid silicon substrate.
 6. A bifacial solar cell, comprising: a siliconsubstrate with a front surface and a back surface; an active region of afirst conductivity type located on at least a portion of said frontsurface of said silicon substrate; a first dielectric layer deposited onsaid active region; a second dielectric layer deposited on said backsurface of said silicon substrate; a first metal contact grid on thefirst dielectric layer; a second metal contact grid on the seconddielectric layer; and a back surface contact grid aligned with thesecond metal contact grid.
 7. The bifacial solar cell of claim 6,wherein the active region of the first conductivity type includes ann-type active region.
 8. The bifacial solar cell of claim 6, wherein theactive region has a depth between approximately 0.3 and 0.6 microns. 9.The bifacial solar cell of claim 6, wherein the first dielectric layerincludes silicon oxynitride.
 10. The bifacial solar cell of claim 6,wherein the second dielectric layer includes silicon oxynitride.
 11. Thebifacial solar cell of claim 6, wherein the first dielectric layerincludes a laminate of more than one dielectric material.
 12. Thebifacial solar cell of claim 6, wherein the laminate includesapproximately 10 nanometers of silicon dioxide and approximately 70nanometers of silicon nitride.
 13. The bifacial solar cell of claim 6,wherein the first metal contact grid includes silver.
 14. The bifacialsolar cell of claim 6, wherein the second metal contact grid includesaluminum.
 15. A bifacial solar cell, comprising: a silicon substratewith a front surface and a back surface; an active region of a firstconductivity type located on at least a portion of said front surface ofsaid silicon substrate; a first dielectric layer deposited on saidactive region; a second dielectric layer deposited on said back surfaceof said silicon substrate; a first metal contact grid on the firstdielectric layer; and a second metal contact grid on the seconddielectric layer, wherein the first metal contact grid is aligned to thesecond metal contact grid, and the second metal contact grid uses afiner spacing than the first metal contact grid.
 16. The bifacial solarcell of claim 15, wherein the second metal contact grid includesaluminum.
 17. The bifacial solar cell of claim 16, wherein the secondmetal contact grid includes a silver-aluminum alloy.
 18. The bifacialsolar cell of claim 15, further including a back surface contact gridaligned with the second metal contact grid.
 19. The bifacial solar cellof claim 18, wherein the back surface contact grid is alloyed to thesecond metal contact grid.